The proposed date is also just under two weeks before the first votes are set to be cast in the Republican presidential race.
US prosecutors asked a federal judge to begin former president Donald Trump’s trial on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden on January 2, 2024.
That date would have the trial get under way just two weeks before the first votes are cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, a race in which Trump is the front-runner.
US Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office asked a judge in a court filing on Thursday to start the trial on January 2 in part due to the public’s interest in a speedy trial.
Smith’s office said that interest is “of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens’ legitimate votes”.
